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The Olympics - Mia McCaslin

Every four years there is an extra day in February, there is a Presidential Election in the United States and around 200 countries from around the globe participate in the Summer Olympics. 204 Countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe are competing in the 2012 Olympic Games being hosted in London. This is the third time the modern era Summer Olympic Games have been held in London, more than any other city. The opening ceremonies occurred on July 27, and the games will close on August 12. The opening ceremonies were choc full of entertainment from the Queen parachuting into the arena with the help of James Bond to Paul McCartney performing ‘Hey Jude’ to close out the ceremonies. These seventeen days of Olympics only come around every four years, so be sure to catch what you can!Today is the forth day of the Olympics, and already 14 records have been broken. Three records were broken by Kazakhstani athletes Zulfiya Chinshanlo and Alexandre Vinokarov; Chinshanlo became youngest weightlifting gold medalist and lifted greastest weight in a Clean and Jerk Weightlifting while Vinokarov now possesses the most medals in the Cycling Road Race Men’s event. In the swimming world, Michael Phelps now has the most Olympic medals won by a man with 17 medals, Dana Vollmer broke the World Record for the fastest 100 meter Women’s Butterfly, Cameron Van Der Burgh from South Africa is now the fastest male 100 meter Breast-stroke, the most Olympic swimming medals by an individual female is 12 medals achieved by USA’s Natalie Coughlin, and Ye Shiuen from China broke the World record for the 400 meter medley relay in under four and a half minutes while becoming the youngest 400 meter Olympic gold medal won by a woman. More records have been broken and more are sure to come. The medal count is currently dominated by the People’s Republic of China with 13 medals, 7 of which are gold. The US is in second with 13 medals as well, however only three are gold. There are 36 sports represented in the 2012 London Olympics including Archery, Athletics (Track and Field), Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoe Slalom, Canoe Sprint, Cycling-BMX, Cycling-Mountain Bike, Cycling-Road, Cycling-Track, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Football (Soccer), Gymnastics-Artistic, Gymnastics-Rhythmic, Handball, (Field) Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Synchronized Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Trampoline, Triathlon, Volleyball, Water Polo, Weightlifting, and Wrestling. If you want to find out when your favorite events are scheduled or even just track the medal count, http://www.london2012.com/ is very interactive and informative. The official site of these London games can be used to find out more about the Olympic Sports and keeps an up to date tab on the most recent medals. My personal favorites in the summer games are Swimming and Gymnastics, what are yours?